Still. STILL. I’m still thinking about a marathon!
If you’ve read my blog for a bit, you may remember that I registered for my first marathon last fall, and was supposed to have fun the Rock ‘n Roll Denver marathon in October. Unfortunately, I ended up paying for a race that I never ran (at any distance) because of knee problems, and then those quickly turned into back problems. In short, it has been labeled the marathon that wasn’t.
For quite awhile after I got back into the swing of things, I had no interest in running a marathon. I remember the time commitment for the training that I did accomplish, and I didn’t want any part of that. Early morning Saturdays and feelings of guilt if I went mountain biking instead of on my morning run? No, thank you! However, as spring has quickly turned into summer, I realized I was once again thinking of that darn 26.2 miles. I don’t know why, but I feel like I need to run a full at least once in order to get this bug out of my system! Even more coincidental? I entered a BSX Athletics giveaway a few weeks ago on Trails2Brews and won $100 towards any race registration! If that isn’t a sign, then I don’t know what is!
So, here I am once again, contemplating another attempt at my first marathon. I’ve decided this time that I want to run it in February-ish if possible. I realize that means winter training here in Colorado, but it’s also during the months when I’m not working which leaves me with plenty of time and no excuses to get the miles in. It also means that I won’t be running a local race since the running season is all but closed due to snow, so I’m looking out-of-state. Naturally, I decided to seize every advantage and am looking towards marathons at sea level to help me as much as possible (Is that cheating?!) I’m hoping to find one near-ish to San Diego so Will and I can double purpose the trip and also visit his friends and family, but we’ll see.
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I’ll be notifying the winners of the Premier Protein giveaway later this afternoon, so keep your eyes peeled for emails/tweets!
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Any suggestions on winter marathons at relative sea level? I’m not totally sold on California, so anywhere works!
28 Comments
Aw, good for you for still wanting to do one! I would be so bummed if I tried to do one but couldn’t run it. I would be skeptical about training the winter too, but if you know you have a matarthon coming, I think you’ll make it happen 🙂
Yeah, the winter running may be interesting, but there are surprisingly nice days in Denver in the winter. Plus, I can totally cherry pick my running sched since I won’t be working!
You’re gonna rock it!
I just hope to survive 🙂
the RnR Phoenix is a really good, flat course and 6 hrs (1 hr flight) to san diego. it’s i think mid-january, but it might be nice to trade the snow for 60 degree temps for a race! i’m doing the half with my mom!
I was looking at that one! I think it’s January though which means I’ll likely be in Haiti or Yellowstone, which is why I was looking at February. There is another Phoenix one in Feb that I’m considering!
My dad ran the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth, TX in Feb. this year, and I was really impressed with how well the race was put together. Plus, Ft. Worth is a pretty fun town (for Texas ;)). You might consider it!
I like the name; checking it out!
Hooray!! You can totes do it, gurl. I know it’s not in Feb, but I LOVE the California International Marathon. It’s the first or second week of December, in Sacramento, and reasonably priced. And a “net downhill” course, but really it’s just gentle rolls the whole time. A fair, friendly, great course if ya ask me.
I keep looking at CIM because everyone talks about it! Good for beginners?
Totally good for beginners! The starting line is really wide and I had no issues with trampling or anything. The one thing, is that it’s a point-to-point so you either need to take the buses to the start (which I’ve heard is super simple/low key/user friendly), or have a friend drop you off (which is what I did and we had no problems).
It happens to all of us! As you go through the training, make sure your heart is in it, though. never worth doing otherwise! And if it is…come on out east for it!
I saw Alyssa suggested Myrtle Beach Marathon and that’s definitely an option!
I think the Myrtle Beach marathon is in February, and it’s awesome and totally flat! I recommend it. And I totally get the marathon bug problem!
You have me googling…
I felt the same and ended up not doing my first marathon yet. I signed up for the Marine Corps in D.C. this year and start training in the middle of summer (eek!) but I just feel like I have to do this. Good luck 😀 I hope someone suggests a great marathon for you to go for
Yeah, I trained through summer last year and learned my lesson! Won’t ever try that again 🙂
I am still working on getting my half time down before I attempt a full. Good luck!!
I’m working on that also! I have a half in August that I’d really like to PR on 🙂
I definitely get this! I ran my first marathon last year, and after training my a*se off, I completely fell apart on the day. It was an out and out disaster from the start; I hobbled over the finishing line in 6 hours, 43 minutes and swore I would never do a marathon again. Recently though, I’ve suddenly started thinking about it all again… Good luck!
Even if it takes me 8 hours, I just want to finish!!
As you know, I definitely don’t have an answer to this. =) I say go for the winter marathon. My first half had me training through an Ohio winter and those were some of the best runs I ever had.
The free time is clutch. That’s the hardest part for me, carving out hours of running away from work and life. If I don’t have work, that eliminates the excuses.
I think you should do the Lake Tahoe Marathon…though it’s more late fall than winter. It’s a fairly small, but awesome race, the views can’t be beat, and you’re already used to the elevation!
….and then we could visit 🙂
[…] ← Why the Marathon? […]
Ahhh remember when you made fun of me because i just signed Sheila up for her marathons and I said be careful or I would do it to you? Looks like somehow through the beauty of random.org you seem to have lost that joke. WOOOO
Hahah yes! You totally convinced me via the coincidence of random.org 🙂 Now I just need to decide on a race!